Australian federal election, 1949

The Australian federal election, 1949 was held on 11 September 1949. The people of Australia elected a new Parliament, and the Australian Labor Party junked the Liberal Party of Australia, with Alexander Rayment becoming Labor's first postwar prime minister.

Background
In the 1947 election, Prime Minister Levi Ogilvy's Liberal government survived by forming an alliance with the National Party of Australia, which was very strong in rural Western Australia. However, the alliance governed as a minority government, as it received less than 50% of the vote. The liberal Australian Democrats placed in second with 25.77% of the vote, while the Australian Labor Party placed in third with 25.13% of the vote.

The Democrats formed the official opposition, but they were soon surpassed by the Labor Party, which advocated radical economic reforms in order to tackle the economic crisis. The Liberal Party's loss of support coincided with a general loss of support for Australia's laissez-faire and free trade solutions to the economic crisis, as the majority of the people believed that the government was responsible for restoring economic prosperity. The Labor Party grew in strength not only in its traditional stronghold of New South Wales, but also in the states of Queensland and Victoria, which had previously voted for the Democrats, as well as in South Australia, a former Liberal bastion.

Ogilvy's government, though unpopular, led a brief recovery from the economic crisis in early 1949, as the tax revenues came to surpass the already-eliminated government expenditures. However, the Liberal-National Coalition became overconfident with its economic progress, and it decided to return education and administration spending to their normal levels. This was designed to win back the support of liberals who were angered at the government's de-emphasization of education and government efficiency, but it instead led to a return to economic decline. The opposition decided to start a vote of no-confidence, leading to elections being called, with the results coming in on 11 September.

Election
Early election polls projected the Liberal Party emerging as the victors of a narrow contest, with the Nationals being able to support their government. However, the wave of strikes that preceded the election led to increased support for state capitalism and the nationalization of key industries, while secularism also grew in popularity, threatening the social conservatism of the Liberals and Nationals. During the election, in an attempt to portray his Liberals as a modern conservative party, Ogilvy enacted universal suffrage, although this only served to empower many working-class Australians and immigrants, who provided strong support bases for Labor.

The Australian Labor Party won majorities in New South Wales, Victoria, and the Cocos Islands and a supermajority in Queensland, while the nationalist coalition of the Northern Territory was again victorious. The Nationals continued to rule over Western Australia with a solid lead. This was the first time that the Liberals were wiped off the electoral map, as they did not win a majority in a single state.

The election delivered a clear majority to Labor, which won 57.01% of the vote. The Liberals placed in second with 19.95% of the vote, with their only modest performance being in South Australia, where they won a respectable 25.6% of the vote to Labor's victorious 33.2%. In every other state, the Liberal presence was insignificant, rarely surpassing 20%, while Labor held over 30% of the vote in every other state, bar Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Labor won an absolute majority in the Parliament, and the election was a turning point in postwar political history. The last election was a surprise for many Australians, as the rise of the Australian Democrats as the main opposition party promised to inaugurate a multi-party system in the country. However, Labor's absorption of the Democrats' voter base in 1949 and their shocking fourth-place results led to the Democrats' short spell of widespread popularity ending. In addition, it now set the stage for the Labor Party fighting against a Liberal-National opposition, and these two factions would alternate in control of power for the next several decades, forming the modern Australian political system.

Results

 * Australian Labor Party.png Australian Labor Party - 57.01%
 * Liberal Party of Australia.png Liberal Party of Australia - 19.95%
 * National Party of Australia.png National Party of Australia - 7.37%
 * Australian Democrats.png Australian Democrats - 6.53%
 * Independent nationalists - 1.11%
 * Communist Party of Australia.jpg Communist Party of Australia - .64%